


Starstruck

by ababadaboop



Category: Original Work
Genre: Astronomy, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Getting Together, Stargazing, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-03 17:36:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13346151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ababadaboop/pseuds/ababadaboop
Summary: It took them long enough.





	Starstruck

**Author's Note:**

> look, i couldn't resist the pun, okay...

We’re laying on our backs, cozied in a nest of pillows and blankets, looking up at the stars. 

Shoulder-to-shoulder, neither of us moves the arms that are touching. 

As if the moment will fracture if we do, as if this little space we’ve made will be scattered amongst the constellations.

The weighted blanket on my torso calms my heartbeat.

“Do you see that one?” Alex points. “Look how… bright.”

“Betelgeuse,” I murmur.  “Tenth brightest star, not including the sun.”

“You know stars, huh?”

“Castor and Pollux, Alpha and Beta Gemini, the twins. Beta is brighter.”

“Whoa.”

I turn my head to him. He’s looking right at me, a certain curious light in his eyes. 

I feel a smile curve the corner of my mouth. “Sirius, brightest star, second-closest to us. Eight-point-six light years. The sun is less than two hundred thousandths.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I loved the stars as a kid. I’d stay out at night to watch them appear, and my mom would have to drag me back inside. I kept asking questions, and eventually, she couldn’t answer them any more. She took me to the library, and I swear, I must have checked out half their books on stars. When Wikipedia went up, I devoured those pages. I’ve memorized some of the brightest ones. Like Bellatrix. Also in Orion… there. And Regulus, Alpha Leonis. There’s one called Mimosa.”

“Is there really?”

“Yeah!”

“Huh. Wait, isn’t there another, like, really well known star or something?” he asks, waving his hand around.

“There absolutely is. Alpha Centauri,” I sigh. “Four-point-three-seven light years away, and the closest star. Well, not really. Proxima Centauri is, but that’s not bright enough to see with the naked eye. But Alpha Centauri is the closest major star. Well, technically a binary star, but A and B are close enough together that they look like one. It’s probably gonna be the first star that we explore. In, like… fifty years, too. Actually, I think Proxima might be. It is technically closer, and it’s got a planet in the habitable zone! Proxima Centauri B. There might be planets around Alpha, though, too, even though they haven’t technically found any. But that’s our closest chance to find extraterrestrial life. Whatever it might be.” 

When I pause to take a breath, there’s silence. Before I can even open my mouth to apologize for rambling, there’s a soft touch on my arm. I look over to Alex, who is clearly, completely awestruck, and I find myself feeling like a deer in the headlights as my eyes catch on his. He gives me a smile, gentle, like he’s reassuring me.

Oh.

The hiccup in my heartbeat when I’m so close to him, the warmth in my chest when he does something like this, the strange twisting feeling I get when, somehow, both happen at once...

This is what it feels like to love him.

“Mal,” Alex says quietly. “You do not ever,  _ ever, _ have to apologize for this.” He shifts himself to lay on his side.

Goosebumps shiver onto my skin as I turn to him.

He’s so close. His face, right there, inches from mine.

“That,” he whispers (his breath is warm on my face), “is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen you do.”

And he kisses me.

I’m caught breathless, stunned and stuck in place at the shock of it. I nearly don’t register that I should kiss him back until I feel his lips leave mine.

His body is warm on my palm, then my arm as I pull us closer again. No sooner have I done that then he’s cupping my face softly as he presses our lips together. I can feel my heartbeat, pounding in my chest. His hand is cool, smooth and soft and gentle on my skin. The blankets are like a nest around us, keeping us warm, as if this wasn’t enough. Alex grabs my free hand with his and squeezes. My heart swells, a surge of love for this man, and I break the kiss with my smile.

I rest my forehead against his. “Alex?”

“I love you,” he blurts out. I open my eyes, move back enough to focus on his face, and see that he’s blushing, looking incredibly embarrassed. He sees my look of surprise and visibly panics, reaching for an explanation. I don’t give him the chance.

“I love you, too,” I say.

And then I kiss him.

**Author's Note:**

> this is on a different timeline (?) from the "that escalated quickly" series. these fuckin saps.


End file.
